Object Details
Description
The second anniversary of the Santa Maria di Galeria Radio Tower was commemorated on October 27, 1959, with a two-stamp set of 25-lire (rose, yellow, black) and 60-lire (yellow, red, blue) values.
The stamp's vertical design depicts the Santa Maria di Galeria Radio Tower, located in extra-territorial property of Vatican City, eighteen miles south of Rome. Also depicted is a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of radio and radio workers. An inscription at the top of the stamp states, "Centro Radio S. Maria Di Galeria." Post Vaticanne and the stamp's value appear at the stamp's lower edge. Santa Maria di Galeria is the name of the parish and municipality in which the towers are located.
Vatican Radio was initially set up by Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), a developer of wireless telegraphy, for which he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize for physics. Further technological developments, especially the oscillating vacuum tube, led to radio voice transmission during the 1920s. The first papal broadcast, by Pope Pius XI (1857-1939), occurred February 12, 1931. During World War II, Vatican Radio provided information to Allied governments and messages to civilians caught-up in the turmoil of war. Vatican Radio now broadcasts in forty-seven languages by short/medium wave, FM, satellite, and internet, offering programs on international news, special religious and other programming, music, daily offices, and the Wednesday General Papal Audiences.
The stamps measure 3 cm x 4 cm, include a sideways Crossed Keys of St. Peter watermark, and are perforated 14 x 14. A. Grassellini designed the stamps, which the Italian State Printers, Rome, produced using the photogravure process. The 779,200 sets printed remained valid until withdrawn on December 31, 1960.
References:
"Vatikanstaat," in Michel Europa Katalog, band 3, Südeuropa, Unterschleißheim, Germany: Schwanberger Verlag GMBH, 2008.
"Vatican City," in Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue, part 8, Italy and Switzerland, 7th edition, Ringwood, Hampshire, England, 2010.
"The Founding of Vatican Radio," located at http://www.vatican.va/news_services/radio/multimedia/storia_ing.html.
The liturgical schedule is located at http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/chapel.asp.
Date
October 27, 1959
Object number
2008.2009.264
Type
Postage Stamps
Medium
paper; ink / photogravure
Place
VATICAN CITY (independent city state)
See more items in
National Postal Museum Collection
Data Source
National Postal Museum
Topic
International Stamps & Mail
Link to Original Record
Record ID
npm_2008.2009.264